Tutorial Eight

Assistive technology is ‘any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities’ (Law, 1976, p. 104). This to me means that assistive technologies are tools or services that help improve the quality of life for people with disabilities by enabling them to do occupations that they would otherwise not be able to do.

A piece of assistive technology I would like to introduce is the BIGtrack Trackball. The BIGtrack Trackball is a giant 3 inch trackball mouse alternative for computer users enabling easy and accurate mouse movements. The BIGtrack is the largest trackball available. The large ball requires less fine motor control than a standard trackball and it is ruggedly built. The left and a right mouse click button located behind the trackball to avoid unwanted mouse clicks (Media, 2011). This would help people with disabilities in the way that they will now be able to complete their occupations they want to on the computer.

This is a You Tube clip that shows a man using this technology to help him with his computer technology that helps him communicate to his wife, family and friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11efRFiDvQA

Another website on the BIGtrack Trackball is the official website (linked below) and explains the BIGtrack Trackball in more detail and shows dealers that supply this technology.

http://www.bigtracktrackball.com/

By using the BIGtrack Trackball an individual can overcome occupational deprivation because they will be able to engage in the occupation on the computer that they want to and would not otherwise be able to do. Occupational deprivation is stated as being an external circumstance that influences and prevents someone from their occupation over an extended period of time (Townsend E.A. & Polaitajko, 2007).

Media, W. (2011). BIGtrack Trackball. Retrieved May 2, 2012, from Star Mobility Disability Centre: http://www.starmobility.co.nz/computer-1/mouse/bigtrack-track-ball.html

Townsend E.A. & Polaitajko, H. J. (2007). Enabling Occupation II: Advancing an occupational therapy for health, well-being, & justice through occupation. Ottawa: Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.

Tutorial Seven

I have researched some other blogs that relate to Occupational Therapy and have chosen to discuss and link to five of these blogs.

The first blog I have linked to is WiiHab - Rehabilitative Therapy Using the Wii by the "Wii OT". This blog is written by an OT with over 25 years of experience and this blog discusses how you can use the Wii for rehabilitation.

http://wiihabtherapy.blogspot.co.nz/

The second blog I have linked to is Kara’s OT blog. This blog is written by an OT and Kara writes about a lot of different topics and has been doing so since 2008.

http://karajojo.blogspot.co.nz/

The third blog I have linked to is Tracey James Blog. She is an Occupational Therapy student at Otago Polytechnic and is a classmate of mine. Her blog I feel is very educational and is a great example of an educational blog. She has also got a great design and is easy to follow as well as having good links to other educational blogs.

http://www.traceohna.blogspot.co.nz/

The fourth blog I have linked to is the stroke survivor blog. This is a blog that has first-hand accounts of how people who have had strokes, how they are managing and even striving in life now and what process they went through while recovering from their stroke.

http://www.strokesurvivorblog.com/

The fifth blog I have linked to is (B)e(LO)n(G), OT. This is a blog written by an OT and she started the blog when she started studying to become an OT. She uploads information and events she goes through over her journey of becoming and lately of being an OT.

http://otstudents.blogspot.co.nz/

Tutorial Six

http://sciblogs.co.nz/food-stuff/2011/04/12/should-coke-be-cheaper-than-milk/#comments

This blog is about how healthy food should be more affordable than unhealthy foods and how much more expensive it is to eat a healthy diet compared to an unhealthy one. The intended purpose of the site is to encourage debate about the cost of healthy foods such as fruit and vegies. The article encourages people to comment on the points made and responds to everyone that is made. This response to comments encourages more people to contribute to the debate.

http://blog.superhealthykids.com/2011/10/top-5-secrets-healthy-kids-fall-giveaway/

This blog is about healthy eating and how to make sure you remain healthy and not get sick. The intended purpose of the site is to inform readers on how they can make sure that kids are kept healthy and avoid falling ill. The article has a comment area at the bottom of the page to encourage viewers to respond and bring up their own ideas on how to maintain the health of kids.

http://blog.superhealthykids.com/2011/01/lunch-faces/

This blog is about how to make sandwiches that have faces on them so that they can be more presentable to kids so the kids will eat these. The intended purpose of the site is to teach the viewer how to dress up there food and more it more appealing to kids. There is a comment area at the bottom of the page that encourages viewers to respond and talk about their own experiences of making these for their kids.

People choose to contribute to the community to try and encourage others to ensure that the kids eat healthy food. The information shared on the blog is reciprocal as the authors of the blogs usually reply to the information that others contribute to the discussions. These blogs relate to occupational deprivation through the fact that without a proper diet kids will not have the energy to participate in their meaningful occupations. Occupational deprivation is stated as being an external circumstance that influences and prevents someone from their occupation over an extended period of time (Townsend E.A. & Polaitajko, 2007). These blogs show occupational transition through if the government made healthy food cheaper then it will leave more income for people to spend on occupations that they want to. Occupational Transition is ‘Circumstances creating a change in the nature or type of occupational engagement pursued by or available to an individual. Such transitions may be the result of choice, changes in physical or mental status, life transitions, geographical change, geopolitical strife, or other factors’ (Christiansen & Townsend, 2010, p.421).

Possible ethical issues could be that people’s comments could be offensive to others as there is no control on getting rid of the potentially harmful comments. Yet people who write the comments on the blogs can write under any name they want to write it under and they choose to share only as much as they want to share on the comment section.

The benefits of the community being online is that it is accessible to people from different areas in the world with different backgrounds so will have more of a wider opinion and view of the topic. Also you can be any alias you want and so you can write things up and remain anonymous so more people will open up and discuss more personal matters.

The limitations are that not all people are computer literate, meaning that not everybody knows/ has the capability to use a computer and access the internet to access these communities. Also if you do not have broadband or fast internet it might deter the person to access these communities because it will take such a long time to get to the page they want and to write/ read the comments they want to read. Plus it is easier for others to criticise what you say on the internet, because they are not having to do it directly in front of you so there is a higher chance someone will challenge your thoughts or feelings.

 Christiansen, C. H., & Townsend, E. A. (2010). Introduction to Occupation (2 ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

Townsend E.A. & Polaitajko, H. J. (2007). Enabling Occupation II: Advancing an occupational therapy for health, well-being, & justice through occupation. Ottawa: Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.

Tutorial Five

For this post I will find five videos relating to my placement at a special school



This video represents the time we went out in the community to go to the supermarket to buy gtoceries for the next days lunch.



This video shows the process that the students went through to collect the food they needed to buy for the next days lunch.



This video represents how we taught the students to buy healthy products at the supermarket that were going to be used to make their lunches the next day.



This video represents when the kids use the self service checkout to purchase the groceries



This video represents the safety that we taught them to apply when they are walking in the carpark to get back in the van